The Book of Jonah

All of these statements refer to the same person. God extends His grace to whomever He wants. Now, obviously that refers to anyone that God is dealing with in the world, but as I go through these statements, you'll see how this applies to this individual out of the Bible. Even though Israel was chosen by God for a special purpose, the King of God must take precedence over our personal allegiance to our native land. It is a little bit of a question, who am I referring to? Christians have to have a higher patriotism. The Kingdom of God must take precedence over our personal allegiance to our native land. And then some prophecies are conditional. God's actions are based on human response. And finally, God can use the most unlikely messengers to bring about His plan. This had fed a lot of people from the Bible, wouldn't it? But I want to take a personality from the Bible today and really, in the book that refers to Him, it's not a book of prophecy as much as a book about Him. Now, this entire book, written not by the prophet, but by an unknown individual, is named after this prophet, but He didn't write it. And then also, it's more about His life than about prophecy. Now, however, there is one prophecy in that whole book. Now, that's quite different because most of the prophets, brethren, gave multiple prophecies. And those books primarily were not about the person, the man. They were about the prophecies God was expecting the man to give. So, it is the personage of Jonah. Jonah was very different than almost all of the prophets. He didn't write the book, and his book is short. And I can't say it's sweet because it's filled with the two-edged sword. And he had a lot of lessons to learn, brethren, and I'm fascinated by Jonah. Every time I go through the book of Jonah, I learn. And I hope today's sermon will be productive for you because I title the sermon today, the book of Jonah is The Message of Salvation. That's what this book's about. It's The Message of Salvation itself. Now, I'm not throwing stones at this good man, this prophet of God. He was, obviously, God's servant. So, it's very easy to go through anyone's life in the Bible. And God, you know, sometimes is very open about his heroes or his servants in the Bible. It's the good and the bad at times. But this is a man of God. He was going through a very rough stage, we could say. And I've gone through my rough stages, so I'm not throwing stones at him at El. I'm just simply reading the Scriptures with you. And we're trying to draw lessons and trying to kind of take the book apart and learn from it.

Well, often today, you'll find books written about Jonah for children, Jonah and the whale. I mean, they're all over. And it's almost, rather than gotten to be a fairy tale. I mean, did it really happen anymore? A lot of young people are like, oh, that was a nice little quaint fairy tale. Something fabricated. Jonah and the whale? Well, how could a whale swallow a man, live there for three days and three nights, and come out virtually unscathed? How can that happen? Well, it sounds a little bit of a fictitious situation. Well, we want to make sure, brethren, we understand even what the term whale means in not only the book of Jonah, but also in the Gospels, because Jesus Christ referred to Jonah, didn't he? And so we're going to go to all those areas. His name means dove, which generally means, of course, associated with peace or purity. But there's another possible association of the name, and it means silliness. Dove or silliness? Well, I would think, though, his name would mean dove, but some would say, well, it also has this other name, silliness. Well, he was actually born in, obviously, ancient Israel, but he was born just outside of Nazareth, up in the hills of Nazareth area. Now, we all know the history of Jonah, rather than he prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Now, during that era, the greatest enemy of ancient Israel was Assyria.

God has much to say about Assyria in ancient times, and then he also gives prophecies about modern-day Assyria. I won't go into those prophecies about modern-day Assyria, but God says he will use them later on to punish modern-day Israel. So, there are some analogies here. But ancient Assyria, brethren, was about as cruel a nation as you could find.

They were known for torturing people, being cruel to people, all that before they killed them.

When you got a hold of an Assyrian, you better be ready to take on the worst. They were pluralistic in their beliefs, like other nations of God's. They had no affinity toward Israel. In fact, Israel was the one thing that really prevented them from taking over that entire section all the way to the Mediterranean. There were skirmishes all the time between Assyria and Israel. Now, the reason I bring this up is because Jonah did not like the Assyrians any more than his fellow countrymen. That's why he started earlier about, where is our allegiance? Is it to our national state or into, in fact, the kingdom of God? And, honestly, Jonah got that very confused. He was more patriotic to his own people, his own nation, than he was to God.

He didn't get it that he was the citizen of that heavenly kingdom. And he took this personally, this whole commission of going to Assyria, to Nineveh in particular. He didn't like that. But I'm about to get ahead of the story here. Well, turn with me to Jonah 1 and verse 1. Again, Jonah did not write the book. It's as much about him as it is the prophecy that God called him to bring. However, they're intertwined. So, we could say that the book of Jonah is about Jonah, his personal life, his personal battles, and, yes, certainly, very importantly, the prophecy, the message that he expected him to bring to Nineveh. Brother, what we're going to learn in this book, though, very important fundamentals. God is a God of mercy and patience.

Jonah did not get that point.

And we, as God's people today, we do understand that. And there's more to understand. But he did not understand how merciful and loving and compassion this great God that he was privileged to serve really is. Jonah was a judgmental man. To Jonah, it was very clear, black or white, you're either for God or you're against him. And if you're against God, you don't deserve to live. Now, maybe I'm getting to an extreme here, but, frankly, as the story unfolds, maybe I'm not getting too far afield. Because there are some things here, brother, that make our jaws drop about his attitude. Toward people. Well, anyway, with that as a background, one of the big overarching principles or themes of the book, though, is God's mercy, forgiveness, his compassion. And, frankly, of course, God wants all to be that way. Jonah 1, verse 1. Now, the word Lord came to Jonah. So this is not written by him, but God called Jonah to be a prophet. And this is what he was expected to prophesy and to do. Heurai is Goduninaba. That's the capital of ancient Assyria, that great city. And cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. That is what God told him. Now, there's more to this story we assume because that's one short sentence. But the upshot was, I'm not happy with Assyria. I've already prophesied. I'll come against them. And I will break their pride and bring them down if they don't repent. Because I do love Israel. And there are thorn in the side for ancient Israel. And I'm going to protect Israel. Israel has its problems. But God said, I am going to go after them if they're not going to listen to my prophet. So, verse 3 says, Jonah immediately did that. He went to Nineveh. No. Brethren, it says, he arose and fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

That amazing statement. How do you flee from God? Well, I won't have us turn to Psalm 139, verses 7 through 10. But David there says, you know, I don't care where you are. Even in the depths of the earth or the sky, in a cave, it doesn't matter. God is with us. Now, that's a positive. God is always with us. We're thankful for that. You know, brethren, isn't that a wonderful blessing? Wherever we are, circumstances, we cry out to God and he's there.

But, Jonah is using this as the negative. Well, I can out-sale God. I'm just going to sell off to Tarshish. And God can't find me there. It's really silly. Maybe that other alternative meaning of the name is true. It's a silly thought. However, brethren, if most of us have thought about this, you and I all realize I do. I have tried to run from God. Just ignore reality, ignore what's going on, ignore what I know I need to be doing. That's running from God. So, again, I'm not here to throw stones at Jonah.

I'm here to sense, all right, Steve, what can you learn here? You know, we're all in this thing, brethren. We all have human nature, and we all struggle sometimes with our, what we say, conversion. Who's winning out, the Spirit of God or the human nature? So, obviously, at this time, Jonah was not close to God.

Unfortunately, he let down. But God shows Jonah how merciful he is to even him. He's not done with him. He's going to love Jonah. He's going to work with him. And so, Tarshish, brethren, as he went to Joppa, he found his ship going to Tarshish. So he paid this fare, went into it, and to go with him to Tarshish with this crew from the presence of the Lord. Now, he repeats this from the presence of the Lord. Not good. Very clear what he's doing. Well, where is Tarshish? I looked it up, and I've got this old atlas tonight.

It's not a fancy one. It's one of these cheaper ones. But if you go to any of the Bible atlases, and frankly, it probably isn't in your Bible. Those atlases don't give the entire Mediterranean, so you have to take an outside atlas.

But now, if you go to the table of nations, you'll find Tarshish, Genesis 10. Now, they actually split this ancient kingdom into two separate areas where they migrated. One, in fact, is where Paul grew up, and that's Tarsus, the northeast side of that corner of the Mediterranean. But the majority of them went to southern Spain. Now, it makes utterly no sense for Jonah to try to flee God and flee the Assyrians by going up the eastern side of the Mediterranean and really just settling very close to the Assyrian people.

He's a stone-thrower, actually, from the ancient Assyria at that point, so I don't buy into that at all. I buy into the theory, and I will call it a theory, but I think a very good theory. He went to west as far as you could sell from that port. To us, that would be going like the far ends of the earth, Timbuktu, wherever that might be, but you're saying, look, you know, God won't find me there.

I'm going to outsell God. It's humorous, and it's also sad. It's really profound what this man was doing. He had a plot, and he was going to somehow deceive God. He's not going to go to these dreaded Assyrians that he did not like, as if that was going to change anything. Well, verse 4, Now the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty wind or a tempest on the seas, so the strip was about to be broken up.

Then the mariners were afraid, and everyone cried out to his God. They were pluralistic in that stance, along with most other people. Not only during that time, but frankly the modern era. That really hasn't changed. And through the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. Of course, they were losing a lot of money that way, but their lives were in balance.

So Jonah had gone down, though, to the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. Now, he was depressed. Depression brings on sleep because it's going to escape. I don't know if you've ever been there. I have. That was one period of my life. I just thought, I'm not happy, this and that, and the other thing. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it was just sleep.

Sleep, you could escape. You could pull the covers up, put the pillow over your head, turn the lights off, and draw the drapes, take the phone off the hook, and just pout.

Some people eat ice cream when they're depressed.

Some go to sleep, but he didn't have ice cream. He was in the bowels of the ship, escaping reality. I think, okay, I'm going to go with the deepest portion of the ship because God can't find me, and then I'm heading due west to Tarshish, and God won't find me there either. Brother, can you believe this is a prophet of God that we're reading about?

One thing about John of O'Briar is his humanness, not humanness, but humanness, is that a word, comes out. And I do identify with him, at least to a degree.

Running from God, not wanting to do God's will, not wanting to do running and hiding, and not being in a very good attitude. You think, okay, that is being certainly human.

Hold your place here in Jonah. We're going to go back to a couple of scriptures outside the one book. 2 Kings 14, please. 2 Kings 14, verse 25. That's 2 Kings 14 and verse 25.

So let's turn over to 2 Kings chapter 14 and verse 25.

All right. Now, as we turn over there, begin to read in verse 25. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. This is Amaziah. It speaks of there the son of Joash, king of Judah. Then Jeroboam, the son of Joash, reigned 41 years, and he did evil. Verse 24 in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who had made Israel's sin. And he restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamah to the sea of Araba, according to the word of the Lord of Israel. So God still blessed them in that sense, even though he was an evil king along with his predecessor, which he had spoken through his servant Jonah, the prophet. Well, there's Jonah. So here he had another mission. He spoke of prophecy. He said God is going to expand your territory. And God did that during that time. Now, did God do that, rather, because Israel was obeying him or this king was obeying him? No, just the opposite. So God is compassionate and merciful because he has promised to expand their territory through this prophet Jonah. So I'm just pointing out, as God does here, Jonah knew the background. He knew how God is so compassionate, he will bless in spite of our disobedience. Now, that's an important thing because there's a lot of people who think, oh, I'm really being blessed. I must please God. I must be really doing good. That's an assumption. It could be a false assumption. Now, it may be a correct assumption, but it may be a wrong one. And Jonah sure didn't connect the dots here. Why was God blessing all of Israel under a very rebellious evil king?

And we're not obeying God, i.e., maybe I should learn from that. And if God tells me later on to go to Assyria or Deninava and work with them, maybe God has a plan for them, too. Maybe God will be compassionate to them as well as to us. He never connected those dots, brother. So this is prior to what we are reading in Jonah. You see, it's not that simple to say black and white. God blesses the unrighteous as well as the righteous. God is a God of mercy and love.

And, you know, our works don't save us, but yet works are still required.

God, brother, sometimes we're just obeying God, and again, He will still bless. And He didn't appreciate that part. He thought, I guess, well, we're being blessed because we're good people. He knew that better than that. But why did He have such hate toward the Assyrians? Why didn't He realize, as the man of sin himself, and yet a prophet of God, God loved him? Why didn't He realize, you know, I don't earn my salvation through works. God is a gracious, compassionate God to me. Maybe I need to be that way to others as a prophet. If I'm the doom and gloom guy, well, is that really reflecting my compassionate, loving, merciful God correctly? Brother, we have a job to do in the church today. We are to warn and to witness and lift up our voice as the trumpet, like Isaiah 58, verse 1 says. But, you know, brother, if it's a judgmental, condemning trumpet, that is not proper reflecting our true God, is it?

Now, how would you like to go in the future to the beast power into Europe and say to the beast system? Well, you know, I'm here, sent by God, to tell you, folks, you're going to fall unless you repent.

But you also have to say, you know, God has a plan for you. God cares for you, but you're an evil people and you've got to repent. And here's how you repent. I'm sent by God with this message. And here's how you can change. See, if we leave off the last part, we're not doing the job. That's why beyond today and our good news, brother, and us as God's people, we have to show them the whole plan. And not just say the fire is coming, the end is coming, the end is coming, period. Tune in next week.

You know, we can't do that. Now, is there a judgment? Absolutely. We're not doing away with the judgment, but we're also offering hope.

You know, I mentioned last week, I said one of the top words on the internet is the four-letter word H-O-P-E.

Hope. If you're writing a blog or an article, please include the word hope.

And I wrote a blog the other day.

And I'm going to go into it. You'll see it locally soon. But I did end at hope. I think, brother, that all our messages need to end at hope. When we include sin and change and repentance, God says you repent to have a future. There is hope. There is help for you. I love you. I gave my son for you. Now, I know you know this. I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm saying Jonah didn't know it. Now, he knew it. Let me reverse that back here. He knew it intellectually. And we're going to prove that, because he said he did, but he didn't live it. So, that's how I should have stated that. He knew it intellectually, but he didn't live it. Yeah. So, anyway, we're back here in 2 Kings. And it just shows you how God has a plan here. He's used Jonah. Now, let's go into verse 26. This is 2 Kings 14, verse 26. For the Lord's Father, the affliction of Israel is very bitter. Now, again, God is saying he's given his promise to the Lord. He's prophet Noah, a prophecy that Israel would expand. Again, not because they're righteous, but because he is a God of his promise. And yet, God saw, verse 26, that Israel was being afflicted. Of course, it was because of the Assyrians. They had other enemies, too. Whether bond or free, there was no helper for Israel. Verse 27. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven. In other words, he was going to save them from the enemies. Particularly Assyria. But he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash.

Now, the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, etc., etc., he says they're written. But he says, I have a plan for Israel. They're unrighteous. I'm not happy with them, but I have a plan.

And he has even blessed them with the expansion of the territory. Pretty fascinating, if you ask me, how God is. And, of course, it's a tremendous lesson and tremendous type.

Now, Jesus Christ said, brethren, in the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

That's what Jonah, our friend here, did not get. Well, we just read about mercy here to Israel. He says, I will protect them. I will protect them even through evil kings. Not because it writes your kings, but evil. Because I am a God of mercy. I'm a God of my covenant. So blessed. So it tells us, brethren, as Christ said, if we don't live a life extending mercy, we're not going to get it.

Now, God was so merciful to Jonah. He's fleeing from God, and yet God has not done away with him, doing away with him and saying, okay, you and those sailors are going to sink tonight. I'm throwing the storm at you. I've had it with you, Jonah. Oh, by the way, these other men, you know, the innocent ones are going to die with you as well. No, no, you see God's concern. So it is another big lesson of the book of Jonah. Mercy, compassion. All right. We know God wants all men to be saved. That's in 1 Timothy 2. And, brethren, we are going to turn to James 1. Turn with me to James chapter 2. Just hold your place if you can in the book of Jonah. We'll come back. But James chapter 2 and verse 13, please.

You know, one of the fundamental principles of salvation itself is right here. James 2 verse 13. Let's take the one verse. We're going to lift that out. James 2 verse 13. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.

Now, how would any of us, rather than like the judgment of God, without any mercy? Just what we deserve. Just what we earn. Just what we are.

Well, no one wants that. Notice how verse 13 ends. Mercy triumphs over judgment. When we're rearing our children, brethren, that is one of the most fundamental principles of child-rearing that exists. We have to be merciful. Yeah, is there right and wrong? Absolutely, teaching is wonderful and we believe in it. But as a parent, we have to have mercy. We have to have love and forgiveness and tenderness. And give them hope. Give the kids hope. So, if it's ultra-strict, letter of the law, it does not work. Mercy with God, brethren, is the trump card. God holds the trump card. You ever played enough cards? You say, man, I've got the trump card here. I played enough cards years ago, not too much in recent years. You know, you just drool. Oh, I've got that trump card. I can't believe it. Well, that's the one you put down and it's like, okay, nobody's going to put anything better on the Bible. You know, that's a good feeling, isn't it? You know, you've got to play some cards to have a trump card. Well, this, brethren, is the trump card.

Now, is James throwing judgment out the window? Of course not. Of course not. He talks here about works and faith. They're not opposed to each other. They cooperate together. But we're not going to have, brethren, salvation through works. We're going to have salvation through grace and mercy. We know that. So, that's why I say Jonah is about the plan of salvation. And Jonah was not there with mercy. He was all for judgment. Get those Dessirians! They deserve it. They're evil people, and they were evil people.

And so were his own people.

And he, brethren, was the sinner too. You know, brethren, God is calling sinners to salvation. He calls no one else.

There's no such thing as a righteous person by themselves, apart from God that's called salvation. We're all sinners.

And whatever era we've grown up in makes no difference. So, I'm hitting this kind of hard here because there's one thing, brethren, that we really can extrapolate out of the book. And it's a key principle, as I said, God is merciful, God is love, and mercy triumphs over judgment. It doesn't do away with judgment. God is still having a judgment of all men. Actually, you know that. So, we're not turning grace into license. That's the extreme. But it would have sure been nice for Jonah to say, you know what, God, you've already had me prophesied in Israel, and you blessed them with territorial increase. Now, let me see. The next assignment I don't like at all, I'm going to the heart of the beast. And you're really saying you're going to go down, but there's also repentance available to you. Well, maybe I should connect those dots and realize I'm under grace and mercy. Our people are ourselves as Israel. And you know what? God is the God of grace and mercy to everybody. He's calling everybody according to His will and His plan. Well, it's time to go back to Jonah.

Well, brother, we knew that we know the story that they were in the storm, and then he's asleep. Verse 6, a captain comes to him, finds him down in the way down below, and he says, What do you mean, sleeper? What an interesting, you know, you sleepy head. Don't you know what we're into here? Arise and call on your God. You know, get with it. Wake up. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. Isn't that interesting? Now, they were importuning their false gods. And then this supposedly godly man, or at least a believer in now we know the true God, what's he doing? And they said to one another, Come, let us cast now. This was an ancient way. In fact, it's even used in the Bible. We know clear into the book of Acts to determine the will of God. And in more ancient times, outside of the faith or the way of God, that was still used. And a lot fell on Jonah, wouldn't you know? Verse 8. They said, Please tell us. He says, What's going on, Jonah? You know, what's your problem here? What's your occupation? Where do you come from? And what's your country? And of what people are you? So he told them the story. He said, I'm a Hebrew, Israelite, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. I think the Greek, excuse me, the Hebrew here is Elohim. He's saying, I'm of that God, the God of the heaven who has made the sea in the dry land. Now, of course, they had identified their small g-gods with, well, he's the moon god, he's the god of fire, you know, he's the god of weather, you know, how they had just superstitious God, little g-god for about everything. So they're, he's saying, well, to make it a little more simple for you, I'm the God who's the creator. He's made the sea and he's made the dry land and everything, the heaven. And the men were exceedingly afraid and said, uh-oh, why have you done this? It made sense. Your God's a creator God. He's stirred up the storm. Obviously, you've done something wrong. They were there putting the connection here. Why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Well, I don't know if he told them right there whether he got on board and told them a little bit. I'm not quite sure on that. But they knew that part, I'm assuming, even earlier. Then they said to him, verse 11, what shall we do? The sea may calm for us. You know, they were asking for help. Well, he says, just pick me up and throw me in the sea.

Verse 13, so they tried to roll hard back to land. They couldn't. In verse 14, they cried out to the Lord. Now, that's amazing. I mean, it was adopting now God, but they had a little bit of understanding here. Not a whole lot, but, you know, they thought God was another God of the whole world and the universe in this sense. So let's pray to him. Please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood. You know, we're victims for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. Now, that's an amazing concept. Today, brethren, people are far less prone to consider God.

You know, it's like it doesn't come into play. You know, what? What? Pray? You guys pray?

How? Okay, you're one of those people, huh? Well, these were, we would say, pagans, but they had beliefs. They didn't think they had probably evolved from nothing. They did attribute life to a God or gods and weather and everything. And so, I mean, it's the wrong concept and going to the extreme. But today, it's like we're just, we've created our lives. This is us. We've evolved. We didn't need a God. Well, God is dead.

Well, they did throw him in the sea, verse 13, and it did cease. That's the from raging. Then the man, verse 16, feared the Lord exceedingly and offered to sacrifice to the Lord, and it took vows. It's kind of like there's no atheist in foxholes, they say. So, mariners, I think mariners tend to be a little bit more religious, don't you? Because they face the tempests and the storms, and they're out in the nature a little bit more. Now, the Lord had prepared a great fish. Now, that's a very interesting phrase. A lot of people say, well, it was just a whale, an average whale. You cannot live generally in a whale for very long. God does say he intervened here. Brother God either made a special fish, a great fish, or he intervened, and whatever well God chose, he intervened and made sure that well was changed so it would not kill Jonah. We're not sure if it was a whale. It says a great fish. Just swallow him. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Of course, Christ alludes to that. That was his single sign of misdience ship. I think it's in Matthew 12, isn't it? He refers right back to this. Well, let's go into this Hebrew, a little bit of great fish. Well, okay, it says great fish in the Greek and the New Testament. Christ refers to this incident. And he doesn't use the common word ichthas for fish. He uses the word ketos for fish. And the King James, I think, renders this as well in the New Testament there. But it literally denotes a huge fish or a sea monster. Now, please, when we say monster, don't think of some fabricated thing. But it does mean a special fish of some kind that only God certainly knows.

You know, rather than miracles for God are absolutely nothing. Life itself, every second, is a miracle. Unusual, yeah, this is a very unusual case. But it again shows God's extension of mercy and compassion to do all this for this one man. Of course, he wants everyone to learn from it and have this truth available for us. So whether you think it was a well or whether you think no God superlaturally created put this special creature right there for the right time, fine. I think either would work. Let me just tell you another story. Supposedly, this happened in the vicinity of the Falcon Islands. A man was swept overboard by a harpoon's sperm well. The well was eventually killed and cut apart. Well, three days later, they found this missing sailor in the animal's stomach or the well's stomach unconscious. But he was alive. He was successfully revived, although the skin of his neck and face and hands were bleached by the well's gastric juices. I'm not 100% on that, but there are stories of few here and there. But they also say that most wells, they just crushed immediately and there's oxygen and you're gone. But they also say there's one or two kinds of wells that have a certain way of digest of grabbing things and maybe a person could live a short time. The upshot is, God intervened here. He was not done with this man. I think Jonah was just to the point of saying, I don't care anymore.

He had been running from God in a real bad attitude, we might say, for a while. But God was certainly not done with him. Chapter 2. Notice the change as he is beginning now, God is working with him and I assume this because the context just happens while he's in the fish's belly, as verse 1 mentions. It's no assumption he prayed right there, didn't he, in the fish's belly. And he says, I cried out to the Lord, boy, rather, what a place to cry out for help. Because of my affliction and he answered me out of the belly of steel or the depths of hell, you know, the grave. He was in the watery grave, certainly. And you heard me. Now, some would say these parallels, some of the Psalms of David, because they're somewhat similar in wording. Perhaps he did actually read parts of the Psalms. But nevertheless, it's a very humble prayer or series of prayers. Notice verse 7, My soul fainted within me. I remember the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. So, He is crying out to God. He is repenting. He is getting it, crying out. God is keeping Him alive. Wonderful story here. Amazing story. And then verse 10, So, after this amount of time, three days and three nights, not portions thereof, as Jesus said, but full 24 hours, 72 hours, the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Word land has been added, I think, but to dry the dry ground right out there to the shore. So, that is an amazing story of how God, again, in brethren, goes to, you know, so many almost extremes, really, to make sure not only Jonah, but we're going to stay faithful. I think that's one thing we can get out of this is God is going to throw us a lifeline. He doesn't have to create a fish for us, necessarily, but it's going to be a series of miracles. God is saying, you know what? It's okay. You're not the best friend of mine, but I'm not done with you. He's going to tap us on the shoulder, so to speak, and say, hey, hello, sleeper. Time to wake up. You're running for me. You're depressed. And I'm not done with you, sleeper. Wake up. You know, it says all the virgins left there in Matthew 25, all of them. Well, I think we all can assimilate that that, you know, there are times, first, where we're kind of in a stupor, but God is not done with this. We're thank again. God, one of the big lessons. He's merciful and compassionate. Let's go into chapter three now. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying what? Same story. Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message, and I tell you. So nothing's changed. You know, brethren, the truth does not change. Christ, the same yesterday, the day and forever. The Gospel is the same generation and generation. And so we can be thankful for that, and we can depend on God. So he arose. Different reaction this time. Verse three, he went to Nineveh according to the word. It was, brethren, a very large, powerful, and immense city. Nineveh is known from ancient times as being a wonder of the world, powerful, steady nation, a three-days journey.

A lot of commentators say, well, it wasn't talking about going from maybe the outskirts into the city. It maybe was going around the outside from suburb to suburb in the environs of that great city. So that makes more sense. But it was, as we see later, 120,000 people. Anyway, Joni began to enter the city on the first day's walk. So that would make sense. He's just starting to get in the city, and there's more to it. If you ever get into a large metro area, imagine just stopping your car and walking, say, into Los Angeles metro area. It's not just LA city limits. That's bad enough. But the whole south-southern part of California, or the Dallas-Fort Worth, they call it the Metroplex. That area is just really strung out. We've all been to bigger cities, Seattle, Portland, wherever we are. So yeah, three days' walk is quite plausible. And then some today, you'd be a lot longer walk if you were to go through some of these metro areas. But he says, he cries out, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Well, 40, the number 40 is interesting. We see it in the Bible. It rained 40 days prior to the flood. Israel wandered 40 days, or 40 years, based on the spies wandering 40 years. Moses was on top outside for 40 days. Jesus fasted 40 days. And so yeah, 40 is the number, though, of trial. Trial. So they were being tried during these 40 days. God gave them plenty of time. That's about a little over six weeks, isn't it? 42 days and six weeks, but just about six weeks. To think about this, we're to get out. No internet here. So word of mouth. And God's theories. Again, brethren, there's a judgment. Oh yeah, this was the judgment. But there's also the mercy aspect here. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Was that just days later? They proclaimed a fast and put on fat cloths and were greatest to them, to the least of them. You mean everyone felt that? That's what it says. Then it came to the king of Nineveh. So word came to him, and he too. He laid aside his robe. Now, this was maybe even more amazing because kings certainly weren't known as the most humble. They often worship themselves. He covered himself with sack cloth and satin ashes. That's a sign of depravity, repentance, affliction, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout the lands. He said, that's something that we're all going to be a part of. Verse 7, neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything, do not let a meat or drink water. Are you serious? Even the animals? Whoever heard of that? But let man and beast be covered with sack cloth, even the animals, and cry mightily to God? It wasn't one of their pagan gods.

This is the true God. Cry mightily to him, yes, let everyone turn from his evil way. Now, here's repentance. Turn from your evil way? Well, remember, they had to know what evil was. How can you turn from it if you don't know? That's how people can repent without knowing the commandments, the Sabbath, Holy Days, Pithing, etc. How can you say you repented when you're still doing the same thing? So, there's more to the message from Jonah, we know, because they had no clue of what really evil was. To them, that was okay.

I mean, look at Al-Qaeda today. Does Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, they believe in a certain way and they do it. To them, that's not evil. So, they have to be shown the truth, what's wrong, what's right. So, there was that aspect of preaching and teaching as well. So, turn from the evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

So, you're saying you're an evil people or an evil attitude and way, and you've got to turn from that violence. They were known as a very violent, cruel people. That's Assyria. That's Assyria. Well, who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from this first anger so we may not perish again? I don't think the king was making this up. I think Jonah told him explicitly, my God that I serve and that's judging you right now, he wants you to change and here's how you change. And, oh, by the way, God will not punish you if you do repent. This is not in stone, this prophecy that you guys are going to fall, but you've got to repent. You've got to change your way. So, again, there's that message of hope isn't there? That's what the king is saying here in verse 9. There's hope. This God that this man has introduced us to, well, he's a God of hope as well as a God of judgment. He expects us to change, but if we do, who knows what will happen? Verse 10, then God saw their works. It's interesting that there's works involved here in repentance. Now, under a lot of churches today, one of the worst things you could ever do is talk about works. Well, God saw their works and was he displeased? No. He was very pleased with it. He relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. So, they had works turning from the evil way. That's good work. It still won't save you, but works are expected by God to a person he's working with. It shows love to God, honor to God, that we have the mind of God, and we realize those works, those evil works, are not the character in the mind of God. They're wrong. They're not love. Brother, this has never happened in history that we're aware of, certainly not in the Bible, where an entire city-state did repent. I mean, the whole city, the whole kingdom, it went out. Now, we look forward to that, brother, for the entire the world someday, a world repentance. Not just Israel, but the entirety of the world. And that, brother, we look forward to. Remember, our message is, repent, change, God will give you blessings, and there's hope. So that's, in a few words, not the best description, perhaps, but still, you know, kind of a little bit of the true message there from God to the world. And it has to be done through him, and it's done. Okay, so Nineveh was witness to. Jonah stepped up, did a good job here. It took courage. That's a courageous act. He had days to think about it. I think, brother, in a lot of Jonah, I think he is God's servant. But, you know, there's more to the story, right? Chapter 4, verse 1.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, because they did repent. Now, are we talking about a deep God repentance? Obviously not. But we're talking about a, okay, a superficial, just right there, the first inch, you know, of the soil. But they did. Now, that's something, because what other city-state did you know of did this? No group did. Brother Israel, at this time, was not that way. They were still being under an evil king and displeasing God. But God had mercy on Israel and said, you know, I care for Israel, and I know I promised to sustain them, at least to a point. So I'm going to deal with Syria. I've already prophesied I would do that. But they are repenting. But it displeased them. Now, if you want to scratch the top of your head, you can right now, because it's like, what? After all of this, does he not realize he's under grace and mercy?

And his life was over a couple of weeks or a few months earlier without God? So why is he so distressed? He should have been happy. He should have been crying for joy. You know, it says the angels shout for one sinner that comes through repentance. I mean, that brings tears to your eyes virtually. How many baptisms have we all been to? You say, oh, there's tears of joy in this room. You know, we're happy. We're not sad. Well, why is he so upset to the point of being angry? Verse two, so he prayed, and he prayed to the Lord and said, Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Well, he says, Therefore, I fled previously to Tarshish, for I know that you are a gracious and merciful God to show anger, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and one who relents from doing harm. That's what we've been saying this whole sermon. It's found all over the Bible. Well, brethren, he knew that when he fled from God.

And that, again, is the head scratch, because why would he not have been joyful to know, you know what? There's a chance for that. Why? Because, brethren, he saw people in his own nation die and being afflicted all the time. Can we appreciate a little bit of this, rather than with 9-11, some years ago? Was there some real anger in our country? And maybe some of it was good and valid and right. But also, brethren, are we just saying, you know, let the blood letting go start? You know, it's very easy in the heated national patriotic moment of we're reeling from 3000 lives being murdered, massacred, innocent people. And saying, let's just bomb the enemy into the Stone Age. It's understandable on one hand. And also, is there any war, brethren, that's really ended war? Or will end war?

So, I think, brethren, as patriotic Americans in the modern era, we can appreciate a little bit of where Jonah was. He, too, had seen his people suffer a lot constantly. And he was just absolutely angry at these people. And how dare they repent? How dare they really take the message that he delivered with such heart and fast and do this? He had it all planned out. He was waiting for the fire to come. You know, get rid of these kids. Get rid of everybody. None of them deserve to live these people. Right? Brethren, it says, verse 1, he became exceedingly displeased and angry.

Well, I always thought, as someone repented, it was a time of joy. And congratulations and thankfulness. Not to him. Anyway, brethren, we're trying to bring this to our level. I mean, America has gone through tragic things. We were in Pearl Harbor before the feast, our third trip there. And I'll tell you what, you know, you get a sense of patriotism when you go to Pearl Harbor. You know, there is the USS Arizona underwater to this day, leaking oil to this day from the surprise bombing on December 7th of 1941. And these sailors didn't deserve to die that day. And their wives and sweethearts and families didn't deserve to see their sons dead.

They were just, some of them, brethren, were going to church on the deck of the Arizona when the attack started. Did you know that? Or the other ships. They had, they had church literally on the deck at 8 a.m. when the attack started. So, you know, we can all kind of get there if we want to emotionally say, well, you know, let's get stirred up. Yeah, these acts of war and vengeance are wrong. Terrorism is actually wrong. It's very hurtful. And that's where he was coming from. And so he was going to do his job. He was going to witness these people. But frankly, in the back of his mind, he was thinking, my job's done now. We're going to see, you know, we're going to see our greatest enemy. That's it for them. Maybe he thought, you know, I'm going to be a hero back home. Because I can tell people I witnessed to them. And I was around the infinity when God started to deliver us from them. Anyway, sometimes it helps, I think, for us brothers to read between the lines. See, why is someone's thinking that? But he knew God is gracious and merciful and abundant and loving kind. He knew that. He just didn't want to apply to their great enemy. Now therefore, verse 3, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live. He thought, you know, unfortunately, this is not a plan he wanted to be a part of. Probably he felt ashamed, maybe, of his attitude. But I think, brethren, there's an overall self-pity here.

Maybe justifying, again, his attitude, certainly, and certainly not appreciative for the mercy of God that he's extended to all these thousands of people. Then the Lord said, are you okay? Are you right? Do you have justification for this, to be angry?

You know, anger can lead to very wrong things.

You know, that's a question, brethren, in our day and age, in church, even. Do we have a right to be angry about that? Really? Verse 5, so Jonah went out to the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there he made himself a shelter under the… Now, it can get 110, if not hotter, there in the shade, and that he might see what would become of the city. I guess he was still hopeful, brethren. Maybe God would somehow have pity on him. Oh, you know, look at me, God!

Look at my people, and look, these people are repented. How does that make me look? Verse 6, and Lord God prepared a plant. So, this is God's way of still working and being merciful, and made it come up over Jonah that it might save him for his had, you know, just, again, a miracle to deliver him from misery. So, Jonah was very grateful to the plant. Now, of course, that plant symbolizes God's mercy, extending over the Ninevites and the Ecereans, taking them out of the heat. There's an analogy here. But as morning dawned, the next day, God prepared a worm, and it damaged the plant and it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a VM in the east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and he says, it's better for me to die than to live. He repeats it, but in this case, he's even suffering physically, whereas he wasn't suffering physically before. He was emotional, self-inflicted, mental, and angry. But he's still not getting what God is doing. And God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? You know, he's been angry before now with the plant. Are you connecting with God, Jonah? And he says, is it right for me to be angry even to death? Or, it is right, excuse me, it is right, declarative. Wow! Well, brethren, it's, again, easy to throw stones, but it's much harder to live it. We all have our challenges, and I do, and maybe you do. We all kind of get there and think, wow, God put this in the Bible. I can appreciate that, and I can learn from that. He says, yes, I do have a right to be angry. You know, even at the point of my life being gone. Now, that is a real bitterness. Verse 10, the Lord said, have you had, you know, you've had pity on the plant for which you have not labored. Well, again, the analogy, God is one that had pity on the Ninevites in Assyria, and he wasn't a part of that labor. That was of God. Nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished tonight. So, in other words, he's saying, you didn't do anything. I'm the one that's forgiving and being merciful here to Nineveh, as well as to you, actually. And, firstly, should I not pity Nineveh, that great city? Now, he gets to the point in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right or left and much livestock. Now, God is saying, you know, Jonah, do you know who you're dealing with? These people are not called. They're, look, I care for them, though. They'll get it fully someday, and I'm not working with them directly, indirectly, yes. And I've told you to go work with them, and I care for them. I have a plan for them. But don't you care at all for those all those little babies and those kids and those wonderful adults there? I mean, yeah, they're vile. They're mean. That's what they know. But, look, they've repented as best as they know how. And you know what? They're gonna learn from this. So be happy. Let me work out my plan, Jonah. Back off. Who's in charge here? You know, you don't, like I say, you don't have a dog in the fight. I'm the one that puts the plan up there. I'm the one that is going to be merciful to Nineveh.

Wow. They don't know the right or the left. They don't know anything other than the carnal way. So don't judge them like like you've been judging them. See, brethren, if we look at the world and keep grousing about all the world, evil world, the bad world, that doesn't help our attitude. They're doing what human nature does. God is a loudness, brethren, for 6,000 years. Our culture is no different than way back. The point is, we need to learn how to extend mercy and compassion and say, God, you will work with that person and this whole thing later on. I give that to you. Help me not to get so emotionally charged up here that I have an attitude problem toward people. If we're that way, move to the mountains, I guess. Move to the desert like Jonah, you know, and then just wait for the end of the world. Like he was waiting, maybe God would change his mind and do away with Nineveh. That's no future. Brethren, I think of people, sometimes you hear in the news, oh, they're going to move over here, they're going to move over there and kind of pull out and unplug. That's what Jonah did. That's not the future.

And then it says, in much livestock, does God even care for animals? Well sure, he does.

Now, we won't go too far into that, because God knows the truth. They're not going to beat you eternal. They're not made in God's image, etc. Our culture today is virtually worshiping animals, you know, animal rights. Well, we shouldn't abuse any living thing with a heart or life, you know, that God has given. That's what he's saying here. Appreciate even the details of these folks and what they're living in. At the end of the book, brothers, no chapter 5. I wish, in a way, who am I to say, but I wish we had a chapter 5 and it was they Jonah really got the point. And he continued to be a great prophet and served God and, you know, etc., etc. So God really just ends this pretty abruptly, but I think as we've analyzed today, or you have in your series of Bible studies over the years, brothers, I think there's so much to learn from this book and this prophet. And it's more than just a child, a story. It's a real existence of God's love and His truth and His mercy and His compassion. And for us to be like God and to extend that to each and every person we come into contact with.

You know, there's one, a couple of verses in Jeremiah. It says, I will be led to the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. This is Jeremiah 18. There are prophecies, brethren, that are conditional, again, based on human nature, the action of humans. Now, is it possible, brethren, we won't have to go through the final conflagration as prophecy, revelation, Daniel and Matthew and all that prophecy. I mean, if we repent, imagine. But that's the long shot, I think we have to understand, because human nature being what it is. But, you know, there is that chance, isn't there? There's the chance of people repenting.

But, again, we would say that, well, God relented if that, in fact, happened. But we also understand that prophecy shows us the inevitability virtually of the consequences of sin and Satan being the God of our world. You know, Jesus Christ, brethren, attested. And let's turn to Luke 11 and verse 32. Luke 11 and verse 32. We've got one other book to look at, and then we'll conclude. But Luke 11 and verse 32, please. Luke 11 and verse 32. You're familiar with this. Here Jesus is saying, this, of course, is a group of Pharisees.

Christ being very strong here to them, he says, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. Powerful words. Even to those supposedly righteous people, the Pharisees, others, Jesus is saying, you know what? You're not as righteous as you think you are. In fact, you're very unrighteous because those men, we would say the citizenry of Nineveh, would rise up or will rise up in the judgment, and they will condemn you for not believing. Now, I'm the greatest prophet. Jesus, of course, is the greatest prophet ever, but they repented at the preaching of Jonah. That's a very strong condemnation to these men. And, again, appreciating God's love and His mercy. And we can't be judgmental and looking down the nose because that's how the Pharisees certainly were. No one was as righteous as them.

Let's conclude in Nahum, one of what we call the minor prophets. Minor, of course, meaning a shorter book, but not minor, certainly in the material, the content in any way. Nahum, this is chapter 1, in verse 1, please. The burden of Nineveh, or against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum. Now, isn't that something? Later on, Assyria changed. They forgot the lessons. They reverted right back. And God sent another prophet. This was Nahum. You know, he had a burden. He had a message. It says, oracle against Nineveh.

So, you know, again, judgment. This was the second prophet. Notice in chapter 3, verse 1, chapter 3, verse 1. If you haven't read Nahum in a while, this refers again to Nineveh or the Assyrians. It's a very powerful book and a witness to that ancient city, as well as we could say even to a future. Chapter 3, verse 1, woe the bloody city, for it is full of lies and robbery. Its victims never depart. The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling wheels of galloping horses of clattering chariots. It says you're a war-making machine, is what you guys are. That's all you really live for. You kill, you massacre, you rob, you them. And the horsemen with bright swords and glittering spirit, very militaristic. There is a multitude of slaying, a great number of bodies, countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses. It talks about the harlotries, the deductive harlots, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlots. Harlotries and family stewards. Behold, I'm against you, God's death, verse 5.

Well, brethren, you know what? Jonah knew that. His people suffered from this group earlier.

And again, if you were going to maybe take the worst of the worst, we might call it, they're the beast. They're the worst. They're the terrorists. I could understand why Jonah had a little bit of a problem with going to these people and saying, why, God, would you extend mercy? When in fact they have terrorized our people, your people, God. And you know what, brethren? God, all that fell on a deaf ear with him. God said, you go anyway. And, brethren, that's our job. Go to the world. They don't know the right from the left hand, but they're people, mainly God's image. We have a work to do. It's a work of preaching, yes, a work of repentance. But also, that means compassion. And God, look you forward to that future repentance for each and all humans on this earth. Well, this is quite a book, isn't it, brethren? There's a lot to these few pages in the book of Jonah, but what a wonderful truth of God being merciful, kind, patient, God wanting the best and God wanting salvation for each and every human being who's ever lived or who will ever live.